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Howes sound chip price reductions (Effective Nov 2015)


big jim

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Courtey of bryan at howes...

 

ESU/Howes Sound Decoders

 

NEW LOW PRICE ON 6, 8, 21 AND micro SOUND DECODERS

 

ONLY £99.99 with howes sounds pre loaded!

 

Due to the favorable Euro rate at this time, we are happy to pass the savings onto our customers, hence the new price of £99.99 from £117.50

 

The large L and XL decoder prices remain the same.

 

EDIT: confusing wording in original post

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Courtey of bryan at howes...

 

ESU/Howes Sound Decoders

 

NEW LOW PRICE ON 6, 8, 21 and MICRO SOUND DECODERS ONLY £99.99!

 

 

Due to the favorable Euro rate at this time, we are happy to pass the savings onto our customers, hence the new price of £99.99 from £117.50

 

The large L and XL decoder prices remain the same.

 

One would assume that a "favourable Euro rate" should affect all decoder prices, not just Micro's ?

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One would assume that a "favourable Euro rate" should affect all decoder prices, not just Micro's ?

it might be the way my original post is worded (cut and pasted from an email) but it is all sound decoders bar the large XLs

 

the discounts are on 6, 8, 21 AND micro decoders

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Hi Jim

I checked out the Digitrains site recently, as I am in the market for a couple of sound decoders....I noticed they are £96..? 

 

Is this reduction from Howes because they were out of line with current market prices from their competitors.?

 

Just checked out DCKits...they seem to be around the £105 mark.

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Howes are going through a marketing re-evaluation by the look of things. Discontinuing to supply many off-the-shelf products etc. So maybe the price restructuring is a part of this and aimed at securing a larger share of the sound chip market.

 

As I have posted before, my opinion is that the Howes sounds are second to none. The service is also excellent.

Bryan as 're-jigged' some for me to meet special needs, e.g. tweeking  a Southern EMU for use on my ex LMS EMU, including swapping the horn for a whistle etc.

Also tweeked the odd function here and there.

 

The sound he did for my Bachmann ex LMS 10000 is excellent and receives many positive comments at exhibition.

Also, the DMU sound is great in my class 122 + DT. You can almost feel the rattles and vibrations of the real thing!

 

Price drop is good news.

 

Terry

'Earl's Court' model railway

ecmr.webs.com

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Am I missing something?

 

The last time I looked at Digitrains, they do ALL Zimo decoders, with any soundfiles, eg Paul Chetter's excellent products, included in the price!

 

And they're way below what the guys from Ulm charge!

 

The usual disclaimers, no connection with any supplier, just like what they do,

 

Regards,

Alan.

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Am I missing something?

 

The last time I looked at Digitrains, they do ALL Zimo decoders, with any soundfiles, eg Paul Chetter's excellent products, included in the price!

 

And they're way below what the guys from Ulm charge!

 

The usual disclaimers, no connection with any supplier, just like what they do,

 

Regards,

Alan.

 

Hi Alan,

If you hadn't read my post #10 in this thread, then yes, you are missing something........I said there that Digitrains were priced at £96, which seemed a very good price.  But I do think that give or take 10/15%, the sound re production is more important, some people preferring the sound for a particular that a manufacturer has on offer, and that being the over riding factor, not always the cheapest.

I'll have a look at the Coastal DCC site as to what they have on offer........but I need to be sure of the quality before buying.....it needs to sound right.

 

What or who is Ulm..??

 

Bob

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Ulm is town in southern Germany where ESU are based,

Electronic Systems Ulm, geddit?

 

It's also the home of MAN trucks and another big truck builder, I think. (According to my niece's partner, who also derives from Ulm - He turns out to be quite useful for translating both ESU and Zimo gobbledegook for me!)

 

Edit: And, unless I'm mistaken, Digitrains also load ALL compatible soundfiles onto Loksound for one penny, or free, really.

So that makes them really competitive.

 

I do agree wholeheartedly, that it's all about how you personally think the sound sounds, which, for example, is why I've just had Merlin DCC convert my Bachmann Class 55 Deltic, into the most amazing machine in my loft! And it's on a Legomanbiffo Loksound 4, so I'm fairly catholic in my choosing a decoder!

 

Regards,

Alan

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I do agree wholeheartedly, that it's all about how you personally think the sound sounds, which, for example, is why I've just had Merlin DCC convert my Bachmann Class 55 Deltic, into the most amazing machine in my loft! And it's on a Legomanbiffo Loksound 4, so I'm fairly catholic in my choosing a decoder!

 

Regards,

Alan

Any chance we could hear that please Alan?

 

Kind regards

 

Phil

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Thanks Mike - only found another one myself which was a triple header - this sounds much better than other deltic sound installations I have heard to date

 

Does it make station canopies resonate like the real thing I wonder?

 

Phil

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Hi Phil,

 

I'll try and do a video, but not many cameras can do justice to Steve Brammer's sounds "in the flesh" so to speak.

 

It is that very same sound, and I can vouch for Steve's lovely layout as seen on that YouTube video.

 

His conversion work is exquisite, and I've had hours of endless fun, since collecting it last week, just starting the Deltic up, running it round for a few laps, and then letting it power down. The 2 Deltic motors are incredible to listen to, and Biff's recordings are excellent, even though I've never heard one live!

Starting up is a joy, as one engine kicks in, then a little later, the second one fires up.

But I think the coup de gras, is when you get to open the throttle past 75mph, towards 100 mph, and they really do sound like the original Fokker ( or was it Meschersmidt) aero engines, amazing! Thanks again to Bif and Steve for all the effort put in!

 

Note to self, get out of house, walk down to East Lancs Railway, and wait for one to pass!

 

Regards,

Alan.

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Napier culverin phil, it was only napier that had wacky idea's with engine configuration, junkers had long given up on jumo before then and licensed it to napier, still think napiers most successful engine was the sabre mind...

 

sorry back on topic :)

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Sorry this thread is about howes sound chip price reduction not a free for all to advertise youchoose, leggoman, merlin, costal dcc, digitrains,zimo, paul chetter

 

I dont hijack other peoples threads to plug howes sounds and id hope others respect that and not do the same here

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